The brush of my old friend, Audubon, is a truth-teller. I regard his drawings as the best in the world. Let us be very careful to correct any errors of description that have crept in on the plates—I see a few in the lettering—they can be corrected in the letter-press; and let us be so cautious as to have nothing in the future to correct. There is but one principle on which a just man can act; that is, always to seek the truth and to abide by it.
Bachman wrote again on the 29th of that month:
About the little mouse—I cannot see a needle in a haystack; or give it a name without knowing what it is. Friend, descriptions cannot be written, as a man works at making Jews-harps—so many a dozen in a given time. My credit, as well as your father's, is so deeply concerned, that I will not publish a day before I am ready....
I have such confidence in you, that I believe that you will do all that I wish. In doing this, however, you will have your hands full. Mine are so—God knows! Will not my old friend, Audubon, wake up, and work as he used to do, when we banged at the Herons and the fresh water Marsh-hens?
Bachman explained that he was the "schoolmaster," and when the boys were a little lazy, he would have to apply the whip.
In March, 1844, Spencer Baird sent Audubon a live Pennant's Marten or Fisher, a rather rare animal even at that time, and now all but extinct. Said Baird:[201]
It was found in company with an older one, in Peter's mountain, six miles above Harrisburg about five weeks ago. After a most desperate resistance the old one was killed, having beaten off a large pack of dogs, to whose assistance the hunters were obliged to run. This individual ran up a tree, and being stoned by the men, jumped off to a distance of forty feet! when being a little stunned by the leap they ran up quickly and threw their coats over it, and then secured it. The old one measured three feet and a half from nose to end of tail, and was about one third larger than this.... It seems to be in very good health, and is without exception the most unmitigatedly savage beast I ever saw. The Royal Bengal Tiger, or the Laughing Hyena are neither of them circumstances to it.
Audubon used this marten as the model for his illustration of the species (shown in natural size, Plate xli of the Quadrupeds); in noticing its habits later, he said:[202]
We kept this individual alive for some days, feeding it on raw meat, pieces of chicken, and now and then a bird. It was voracious, and very spiteful, growling, snarling and spitting when approached, but did not appear to suffer much uneasiness from being held in captivity, as, like many other predacious quadrupeds it grew fat, being better supplied with food than when it had been obliged to cater for itself in the woods.
Baird also tried to secure for Audubon the "far-famed catamount" alive, which, from stories related by hunters, he thought might be different from the young of the panther or puma, and also a specimen of the true black fox in the flesh; though unsuccessful in either quest, his efficient aid was greatly appreciated by his friend. In February, 1845, Baird paid a visit to the Audubons at their Hudson River home, where he was warmly received; as his biographer relates,[203] upon leaving he was invited to select any duplicate bird skins he desired from the naturalist's collection, then at John G. Bell's taxidermist shop in New York; he accepted this generous offer, and chose about forty specimens.